Sony Targets Custom PS3 Firmware with DMCA Takedown Notices

[Logan Westbrook]

Sony Targets Custom PS3 Firmware with DMCA Takedown Notices

Lawsuits were apparently just the beginning, as Sony attempts to take back the PS3 from hackers and pirates.

Sony's lawyers have sent a takedown notice to the site Github [https://github.com/] - which gives people a platform for collaborative coding - demanding that it remove a number of files relating to creating custom firmware for the PS3. According to the notice, the named files violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The notice claimed that the files in question were unlawful because they either circumvent effective access controls, and/or copyright protection measures. The note said that the files were injurious to Sony, and asked the site to remove them as quickly as possible. Github's policy regarding DMCA claims is to remove the content and then get in touch with its creator to give them the opportunity to prepare a suitable response. The lawyers issued the note on the 27th of January, and at the time of writing, all the files have been removed.

As with any online anti-piracy action, this isn't going to stop people creating custom firmware for the PS3, but it might slow them down for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if this was just the first of many takedown notices that Sony sends out in the coming months.

Source: Ars Technica [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/01/sony-sends-dmca-notice-to-github-over-ps3-files-master-key.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss]



Permalink

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Just... just stop it.

You're not going to make any friends with this, guys, and you sure as shit won't stop your console from getting pirated left and right.

 

[Irridium]

Sony is injurious to Sony, so why haven't they been taken down yet?

After all, this whole thing started when Sony removed the Other OS feature.

 

[felixader]

I wonder how much money this whole thing costs Sony.

 

[SaintWaldo]

Sony is injurious to Sony, so why haven't they been taken down yet?

After all, this whole thing started when Sony removed the Other OS feature.

That is a bullshit argument. The US Army has an entire supercomputer created out of PS3 linux boxen, and they didn't hack their firmware to do it. They just STOPPED UPDATING.

It was a simple exchange: if you want to keep using linux on your PS3, don't upgrade the firmware. You DO own the hardware, but you LICENSE the firmware. If you accepted the agreement that said "BTW, this removes the linux install option", you're to blame, not SONY. Anything else is schoolyard crying.

 

[viranimus]

Honestly if it were just another piracy headline I would likely ignore it, because its getting pretty old to have headline after headline regarding piracy.

However the Sony thing has me thinking. I know I was dissapointed that the Sony said there would be the ability to install other operating systems on the PS3 and reneged on thier position. It is making that small but highly dedicated community rather upset, so this kind of response is sort of expected.

But I cant help but to think of the whole Open source model. You have human beings collaborating on work, sharing their efforts to accomplish greater things than what one could do on their own and doing so not for profit not for noteriety, but for the advancement of the project at hand and expanding collective knowledge. Now I know that trying to do that on a console might not be the best place to try to do that but it exists on PC and has done some amazing things. Its a natural extension if you think, hey I can get a computer to do this, why not a different style of computer?

Its almost like were letting corporate profits stand in the way of intellectual evolution. To gather a community together and progressively march forward in expanding technology beyond what it was originally designed for only to get that march of progress halted. Its like denying human nature to figure out how things work and then break it down and build it into something completely different, only to be stopped by roadblocks because it dips into someones money. That notion is very disconcerting.

Perhaps someday we wont be shackled with the bonds of a consumerist profit driven society and perhaps we can evolve intellectually beyond what has held us back for so long.

Sorry, forgive me.. just in a philosophical mood.

 

[mjc0961]

I don't have any files that would be taken down, but I still have a response ready for Sony:

Spoiler

At the very least, you could put Install Other OS back so you don't quite so much like humongous dickheads. Also, it'd go a long way towards having people not try to make custom firmware in the first place (remember how they weren't doing it when the console still had the feature? Yeah).

That is a bullshit argument. The US Army has an entire supercomputer created out of PS3 linux boxen, and they didn't hack their firmware to do it. The just STOPPED UPDATING.

It was a simple exchange: if you want to keep using linux on your PS3, don't upgrade the firmware. You DO own the hardware, but you LICENSE the firmware. If you accepted the agreement that said "BTW, this removes the linux install option", you're to blame, not SONY. Anything else is schoolyard crying.

I submit that the bullshit argument here is yours. You forget that not updating means not being able to access the Playstation Network and not being able to play any games that require the newer firmware anymore. So either you update and lose advertised features, or you don't update and lose advertise features. No matter what you do, you lose something. That is not schoolyard crying, that's getting violently fucked in the ass. Sure, the AIR FORCE (not Army) built a super computer and just didn't update, but plenty of people used both features: Install Other OS and playing games, so yeah, they lose. Also, the Air Force is still fucked if any of the PS3s die, because if you send them in for repair you get a refurbished console with the latest firmware on it. Thus the Air Force also got screwed.

 

[Irridium]

Sony is injurious to Sony, so why haven't they been taken down yet?

After all, this whole thing started when Sony removed the Other OS feature.

That is a bullshit argument. The US Army has an entire supercomputer created out of PS3 linux boxen, and they didn't hack their firmware to do it. The just STOPPED UPDATING.

It was a simple exchange: if you want to keep using linux on your PS3, don't upgrade the firmware. You DO own the hardware, but you LICENSE the firmware. If you accepted the agreement that said "BTW, this removes the linux install option", you're to blame, not SONY. Anything else is schoolyard crying.

And how was anyone supposed to know the update removed the Other OS feature? Chances are, most figured it out after they upgraded. Hell the only way I figure out what the updates add is through looking them up on the internet.

Thus the Air Force also got screwed.

I'm willing to bet Sony'll make an exception for the Air Force. At least I'd assume so.

 

[rufuslives]

Sony, why not introduce a feature (yes actually add one) that allows homebrew without piracy. There could even be a submission process to allow good, screened, applications and programs onto PSN.

Seriously, if you did this then you would get insta-cred and there would be many hoorays!

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

Genie: "I shall grant you three wishes!"

Sony: "I wish you would go back in your bottle!"

Genie: "..."

 

[esperandote]

I wonder why the haven't done the same to all the PSP CF sites.

That their console is inevitabely getting hacked isn't an argument against that they souldn't try to reduce their losses.

Yeah, it sucks that they removed an advertised feature.

"PS3, It only does less than it used too."

 

[Kapol]

The more time goes on, the more Sony just seem more and more like bullies. I'll be honest, I hate piracy in pretty much every area, not just gaming. I understand the desire to protect you're work from people trying to take advantage however they can to screw you out of money. But Sony seems to becoming increasingly paranoid about the entire subject, so much that they are hurting the people who aren't doing anything wrong really (for example, people who hack their systems because they want to find out how it works or to use it for other things on top of game playing). And I really have to wonder how many people actually do hack their systems to play pirated games or to do other things harmful to Sony. I'm sure it's no more then on other systems, and likely less people then on, say, the DS. So why are they the only ones being such big jerks about the entire situation?

I guess that's one of the reasons I don't care for Sony that much though. I kinda hope it gets to the point that they actually lose more money pissing people off enough to get them to stop using the system then they would have just letting people do whatever they wanted.

 

[midpipps]

Sony is injurious to Sony, so why haven't they been taken down yet?

After all, this whole thing started when Sony removed the Other OS feature.

That is a bullshit argument. The US Army has an entire supercomputer created out of PS3 linux boxen, and they didn't hack their firmware to do it. The just STOPPED UPDATING.

It was a simple exchange: if you want to keep using linux on your PS3, don't upgrade the firmware. You DO own the hardware, but you LICENSE the firmware. If you accepted the agreement that said "BTW, this removes the linux install option", you're to blame, not SONY. Anything else is schoolyard crying.

And how was anyone supposed to know the update removed the Other OS feature? Chances are, most figured it out after they upgraded. Hell the only way I figure out what the updates add is through looking them up on the internet.

You are actually wrong a couple times over the OtherOS removal did not start this sony removed the OtherOS feature because some people(GeoHotz) were using the otherOS to hack the ps3. Secondly if you want to know what the update does it has a nice big screen before you agree to update that tells you what features it is adding or taking away. All you have to do is read a little.

 

[zedel]

But I cant help but to think of the whole Open source model. You have human beings collaborating on work, sharing their efforts to accomplish greater things than what one could do on their own and doing so not for profit not for noteriety, but for the advancement of the project at hand and expanding collective knowledge. Now I know that trying to do that on a console might not be the best place to try to do that but it exists on PC and has done some amazing things. Its a natural extension if you think, hey I can get a computer to do this, why not a different style of computer?

Its almost like were letting corporate profits stand in the way of intellectual evolution. To gather a community together and progressively march forward in expanding technology beyond what it was originally designed for only to get that march of progress halted. Its like denying human nature to figure out how things work and then break it down and build it into something completely different, only to be stopped by roadblocks because it dips into someones money. That notion is very disconcerting.

Perhaps someday we wont be shackled with the bonds of a consumerist profit driven society and perhaps we can evolve intellectually beyond what has held us back for so long.

Sorry, forgive me.. just in a philosophical mood.

This is the exact thing that has been bothering me about Sony's actions. I understand that they are losing money and I sympathize as I love money myself, but hindering, in your words, "intellectual evolution" is something that is quite disappointing.

 

[Digikid]

Just... just stop it.

You're not going to make any friends with this, guys, and you sure as shit won't stop your console from getting pirated left and right.

Agreed. Sony are a bunch of fools. If they think that they will win this fight they are dead wrong. All they are doing is wasting money on Lawyers and Legal Fees.....all for a fight that they will NEVER EVER EVER win.

 

[Irridium]

Sony is injurious to Sony, so why haven't they been taken down yet?

After all, this whole thing started when Sony removed the Other OS feature.

That is a bullshit argument. The US Army has an entire supercomputer created out of PS3 linux boxen, and they didn't hack their firmware to do it. The just STOPPED UPDATING.

It was a simple exchange: if you want to keep using linux on your PS3, don't upgrade the firmware. You DO own the hardware, but you LICENSE the firmware. If you accepted the agreement that said "BTW, this removes the linux install option", you're to blame, not SONY. Anything else is schoolyard crying.

And how was anyone supposed to know the update removed the Other OS feature? Chances are, most figured it out after they upgraded. Hell the only way I figure out what the updates add is through looking them up on the internet.

You are actually wrong a couple times over the OtherOS removal did not start this sony removed the OtherOS feature because some people(GeoHotz) were using the otherOS to hack the ps3. Secondly if you want to know what the update does it has a nice big screen before you agree to update that tells you what features it is adding or taking away. All you have to do is read a little.

If he and other were hacking the PS3 through the other OS feature so much and if it posed such a serious threat to the PS3, why the hell have we only just heard about it when the Other OS feature got removed? The way things are working out, it seems the Other OS feature is the reason the PS3 hasn't been hacked as much as the other consoles.

 

[Fenring]

Sony is injurious to Sony, so why haven't they been taken down yet?

After all, this whole thing started when Sony removed the Other OS feature.

Nah man, Linux is injurious to Sony. They need to take down Linux.

 

[Atmos Duality]

So if the hardware and firmware are now inseparable, are you effectively licensing the entire system from Sony? If so, they could legally come into your house and repossess it, because, hey, they own it. All of it. You paid for a SERVICE not a PRODUCT.

I wonder if Sony could prosecute me if I bought a PS3, wiped their firmware and replaced it with one I made entirely from scratch (which doesn't violate any copyright law, because I didn't modify their existing code or base my work on any other form of pre-existing software).

That's the direction we are heading in; where software and hardware are becoming legally blurred.

EDIT:

Thus the Air Force also got screwed.

I'm willing to bet Sony'll make an exception for the Air Force. At least I'd assume so.

I love double standards!

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

I remember..September, was it? When this whole Pirating/Hacking the Ps3 thing started, everyone was like "Go, Sony! F*** those hackers/piraters in the arse!" now, people despise Sony for it.

What?

Me hating on Sony?

I'm just pointing out that continuing to fight a fight basically lost is a stupid thing to do.

But I never actually remember myself supporting them in the "remove other OS" move and hoping they crush the hackers...

If your definition of "everyone" are people in this thread who happen to bash on Sony and, moreover, if you think that our opinion should be the same of some totally different people in September or something

Alright, I'm being an ass, but the point still stands.